diff --git a/ovos_utils/network_utils.py b/ovos_utils/network_utils.py
index c7d21c27..d9801030 100644
--- a/ovos_utils/network_utils.py
+++ b/ovos_utils/network_utils.py
@@ -1,6 +1,27 @@
 import socket
+
 import requests
 
+from ovos_utils.log import LOG
+
+
+def get_network_tests_config():
+    """Get network_tests object from mycroft.configuration."""
+    from ovos_config import Configuration
+    config = Configuration()
+    return config.get(
+        "network_tests",
+        {
+            "ip_url": 'https://api.ipify.org',
+            "dns_primary": "1.1.1.1",
+            "dns_secondary": "8.8.8.8",
+            "web_url": "http://nmcheck.gnome.org/check_network_status.txt",
+            "web_url_secondary": "https://checkonline.home-assistant.io/online.txt",
+            "captive_portal_url": "http://nmcheck.gnome.org/check_network_status.txt",
+            "captive_portal_text": "NetworkManager is online"
+        }
+    )
+
 
 def get_ip():
     # taken from https://stackoverflow.com/a/28950776/13703283
@@ -17,27 +38,72 @@ def get_ip():
 
 
 def get_external_ip():
-    return requests.get('https://api.ipify.org').text
+    cfg = get_network_tests_config()
+    return requests.get(cfg["ip_url"]).text
 
 
-def is_connected_dns(host="1.1.1.1"):
+def is_connected_dns(host=None, port=53, timeout=3):
+    """Check internet connection by connecting to DNS servers
+    Returns:
+        True if internet connection can be detected
+    """
+
+    if host is None:
+        cfg = get_network_tests_config()
+        return is_connected_dns(cfg["dns_primary"]) or \
+               is_connected_dns(cfg["dns_secondary"])
+
     try:
         # connect to the host -- tells us if the host is actually reachable
-        socket.create_connection((host, 53))
+        s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
+        s.settimeout(timeout)
+        s.connect((host, port))
         return True
     except OSError:
         pass
     return False
 
 
-def is_connected_http(host="http://duckduckgo.com"):
+def is_connected_http(host=None):
+    """Check internet connection by connecting to some website
+    Returns:
+        True if connection attempt succeeded
+    """
+    if host is None:
+        cfg = get_network_tests_config()
+        return is_connected_http(cfg["web_url"]) or \
+               is_connected_http(cfg["web_url_secondary"])
+
     try:
         status = requests.head(host).status_code
         return True
-    except OSError:
+    except:
         pass
     return False
 
 
 def is_connected():
     return any((is_connected_dns(), is_connected_http()))
+
+
+def check_captive_portal(host=None, expected_text=None) -> bool:
+    """Returns True if a captive portal page is detected"""
+    captive_portal = False
+
+    if not host or not expected_text:
+        cfg = get_network_tests_config()
+        host = host or cfg["captive_portal_url"]
+        expected_text = expected_text or cfg["captive_portal_url_text"]
+
+    try:
+        # We need to check a site that doesn't use HTTPS
+        html_doc = requests.get(host).text
+        # If something different is in the html, we likely were redirected
+        # to the portal page.
+        if expected_text not in html_doc:
+            captive_portal = True
+    except Exception:
+        LOG.exception("Error checking for captive portal")
+
+    return captive_portal
+